This invention is concerned generally with bale handling devices and more specifically with apparatus that will retrieve, transport and discharge bales of crop material equally well either from ground level or elevated storage positions.
Historically, it has been the custom to harvest forage crops by mowing the crop, letting it dry in the fields, forming the dried crop into windrows and passing a hay-baling machine over and along these windrows to form the crop material into rectangular bales. Recent practice has shown that formation of crop materials into large compact rolls, rather than rectangular bales as formerly done, is a commercially lucrative and labor extensive practice for both small farms and large scale commercial hay operations. The large round bales have proven to be especially attractive because the rolled material tends to provide a self-shedding protective covering from inclement weather along the outer surface. This protective covering creates the ability to leave these rolled bales in fields for storage, rather than having to gather and transport them to a storage area protected from the elements as was necessary with rectangular bales.
These round bales of forage material are generally 41/2 to 8 feet in diameter and have an approximate weight of between 600 to 3000 pounds. Because of their size and nature, there is a definite need to develop new and durable apparatus for retrieving and transporting these bales. Commercial manufacturers have recognized this need as well as farmers. Numerous devices have been produced that will permit the handling of single bales. However, no apparatus prior to the instant invention has been capable of being so easily maneuvered within enclosed areas to retrieve, transport and discharge large bales stored on either the ground or in elevated positions. Commercial large bale handling and transporting operations require an apparatus that will permit the stacking and unstacking of bales on flatbed trucks. Additionally, some commercial operators, as well as farmers, stack bales in enclosed structures or partially enclosed structures, such as pole barns.
Previous equipment commonly used a front end loader on a tractor or other prime moving vehicles. This presented serious safety problems since the elevating of a load beyond a certain critical height under certain circumstances causes the tractor to become unstable, especially transversely to the longitudinal axis of the tractor, or creates the potential to have the bale roll back onto the tractor operator. Extended use of a front end loader additionally causes damage to the tractor front axle wheel spindles because of the excessive load strains to which they are subjected. This necessitates frequent repair after relatively short periods of time. Front end loaders are further severely limited in their ability to meet this large bale handling need in muddy, slippery conditions since the front end loader weight distribution causes the rear wheels of the tractor to some degree to lift off the ground and therefore lose traction. Additionally, most front end loader type devices used prior to this time permit the bale to sag about its support points because of the sheer weight of the bale and the techniques utilized to support this weight. This sagging is especially significant when bales are sought to be stacked in tiers 2 or 3 high.
The foregoing problems are solved in the design of the machine comprising the present invention by utilizing a crop material bale handling means with a pivotable grappling means that in combination with material engaging means will exert a grappling and lifting force diagonally across the center of gravity of a crop bale and will be elevatable along a main support frame to facilitate the stacking and unstacking of tiers of bales.